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Iraq’s strategy of diversifying its trade relations is aimed at repelling Iran’s influence in the country, by reaching out to the wider region for investment opportunities, experts and officials said on Monday.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE separately announced this week that they will invest $3 billion in Iraq following Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi’s visit to the Gulf. The joint funds raise Gulf financial commitments in the country of 40 million people to levels not seen in decades.
“By reaching out to UAE and other gulf states, Iraq is trying to regain alternative investments and lifelines so it’s not stuck to one primarily trading partner,” Renad Mansour, director of the Iraq initiative at London’s Chatham House, told